WARNING - We tested out a walkabout recorder rather than the Lavaliers. I know it's not as bad as I think but I still want you to know, this isn't the normal quality!! We are working on it, I promise!

For the final episode of the year, Tom and Rob leave the studio behind and take a festive wander through two familiar towns to answer one important question: which one actually feels like Christmas?

Armed with nostalgia, sharp opinions, and a suspicious number of LED complaints, the boys walk through Hemel Hempstead and St Albans, judging Christmas lights, trees, town centres, and the general festive “vibe” — while discovering that colour appears to be illegal in modern Christmas decorating.

Along the way there are disappointing trees, baffling design choices, Instagram-bait decorations, knitted postbox toppers, and one genuinely Christmassy saviour hidden away in the Maltings. There’s also a gloriously retro detour into 90s Nokia ringtone culture, as Rob attempts to identify classic Christmas songs recreated using a vintage Nokia composer emulator.

Add Liebkuchen taste-testing, childhood memories, mild outrage, and the slow realisation that it’s far too late at night for Christmas lights to still be on — and you’ve got the perfect cosy, chaotic send-off for 2025.

Merry Christmas from The Variety Show, and we’ll see you in 2026 🎄

#WalkingHomeForChristmas

#ChristmasPodcast

#UKNostalgia

#Channel84

#FestiveChaos

Social Details

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We are part of the Studio:Channel84 network and are featured on their site https://channel84.co.uk.

Finally, why not e-mail us:

TJ tj@channel84.co.uk

Rob rob@channel84.co.uk

Both Hosts podcasts@channel84.co.uk

Music

Intro created by the amazing Ryan at Geeky Brummie

https://geekybrummie.com

WARNING - MR BLOBBY CONTENT IN 'WAS IT BEST LEFT IN THE 90s'.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and also the most unhinged. Episode 70 marks our annual UK Christmas Adverts & Snack Ratings Spectacular, where Tom and Rob take on 18 adverts and 18 festive treats in a marathon of ho-ho-ho’s, ho-ho’s, and the occasional definitive no-no-no.

This year’s lineup includes everything from robot cars in San Francisco, the eternal question of whether Titanic is a Christmas film, Benedict Cucumber-Snatch’s Grinch legacy, Asda’s “Very Merry Grinchmas,” and the kind of baffling advert casting choices that can only happen in December. Keira Knightley? Joe Wilkinson? Cheese counters? Sure.

Alongside the ads, the table is absolutely covered in snacks: Skittles drinks, spicy crisps, imported German Liebkuchen Rounds that may have spiritually changed one of the hosts, and enough sugar to put the Reindeer Union out of business. Expect passion, confusion, festive arguments, emotional breakdowns over bakery products, and a lot of surprisingly deep food analysis.

If you love Christmas adverts, hate Christmas adverts, or simply like listening to two grown men slowly lose structural integrity across 90+ minutes… this is your episode.

Listen now on:

🍏 Apple Podcasts

🎵 Spotify

📱 Goodpods

🔗 https://pod.link/Channel84

Social Details

Now open - Reddit!!

The Variety Show on Reddit - https://reddit.com/r/TheVarietyShow

Find us on:

Twitter - @_VarietyShowPod

BlueSky - @TheVarietyShow.channel84.co.uk

Instagram / Threads - _VarietyShowPod

TikTok - varietyshowpod

Facebook you can find us with Studio:Channel84.

We are part of the Studio:Channel84 network and are featured on their site https://channel84.co.uk.

Finally, why not e-mail us:

TJ tj@channel84.co.uk

Rob rob@channel84.co.uk

Both Hosts podcasts@channel84.co.uk

Music

Intro created by the amazing Ryan at Geeky Brummie

https://geekybrummie.com

#Christmas2025 #Adverts #Xmas #Christmas #Xmas2025

Tom and Rob dive head-first into one of the most unhinged pieces of children’s television ever created: Totty. What starts as a simple retro deep-dive quickly becomes an existential crisis featuring flaming dolls, cursed grandparents, satanic umbrellas, and a child staring lovingly into open flame. Yes, really.

Before that, Tom shares his upcoming San Francisco trip, an exploding schedule, and the legendary “goat joke” that nearly cancelled the show in under 90 seconds. Then: a nostalgia quiz of 80s and 90s theme tunes — from Banana Man to Fraggle Rock — complete with VHS-quality audio and the return of Bertha’s questionable accents.

The middle of the episode melts into absolute advertising chaos:

– Walkers’ “delicioussss” mouth-sounds terror

– The unnervingly AI-generated Coca-Cola Christmas advert

– The truly cursed Mo & Mia boiler mouse PSA

– McDonald’s disastrous voice-note delivery ad

– Tom & Rob both record their own voice-note versions, and yes, they are worse.

Later, the boys ask: Has the death of terrestrial TV secretly killed our Christmas spirit? A surprisingly wholesome (and sad) reflection about festive adverts, Argos catalogues, and why no one gets the magic anymore.

Finally: The 90s song that time should have left behind — Bus Stop’s remix of Kung Fu Fighting — and the shocking confession that Tom once bought it on CD from Woolworths.

It’s chaos. It’s nostalgia. It’s horrifying dolls. It’s Episode 69.

Tottie:

https://youtu.be/Jya3iE4Zm8E?si=PVzoh8ot_wg7KwAe

Social Details

Now open - Reddit!!

The Variety Show on Reddit - https://reddit.com/r/TheVarietyShow

Find us on:

Twitter - @_VarietyShowPod

BlueSky - @TheVarietyShow.channel84.co.uk

Instagram / Threads - _VarietyShowPod

TikTok - varietyshowpod

Facebook you can find us with Studio:Channel84.

We are part of the Studio:Channel84 network and are featured on their site https://channel84.co.uk.

Finally, why not e-mail us:

TJ tj@channel84.co.uk

Rob rob@channel84.co.uk

Both Hosts podcasts@channel84.co.uk

Music

Intro created by the amazing Ryan at Geeky Brummie

https://geekybrummie.com